


knock knock (secret code)

by mulgogish



Category: Stray Kids (Band), fromis_9 (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Restaurant, Assassins & Hitmen, Blood and Violence, Chefs, F/F, Found Family, Gen, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Non-Graphic Violence, Some Humor, Spies & Secret Agents, Waiters & Waitresses, fromiskz ensemble, i miss writing fromiskz
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26495986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mulgogish/pseuds/mulgogish
Summary: Jiheon enters the back door; they know it's her from the way she knocked so hurriedly like someone's chasing her. There couldn't be, because if anyone tries to chase Jiheon, they'd be dead within a second.
Relationships: Baek Jiheon/Lee Nagyung, Kim Seungmin/Seo Changbin, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	knock knock (secret code)

**Author's Note:**

> hemlo friends! this is some weird thing i pulled off my brain. i was supposed to post this yesterday but between skz and fromis' comebacks i was too busy freaking out to write hhh anyways, im gradually coming back to write skz/fromis/fromiskz fics! (my other fromiskz fics are being edited as of the moment please understand ^^) 
> 
> just a few notes!
> 
> secret codes:  
> knocking pattern - 1-2-1-1 (two times)  
> fish - anyone from a huge illegal dealer to corrupt bussinessmen...  
> fish variation:  
> *rainbow - dangerous (catch)  
> *yellow - moderate (warning)  
> *purple - terminate (extract)  
> soda - suspicious/threat
> 
> positions: division-17  
> purple (mostly leads the task, extractor) - chan, changbin, jisung, jiwon, seoyeon, jiheon  
> yellow (helpers, assigned by the purple leaders) - the rest of the team  
> rainbow (big missions) - all of the team inside the division 
> 
> enjoy reading! ♡

Jiheon enters the back door; they know it's her from the way she knocked so hurriedly like someone's chasing her. There couldn't be, because if anyone tries to chase Jiheon, they'd be dead within a second. Also, yeah, they have a knocking pattern that lets the others know if it's an associate or an intruder.

It is how it is in God's Menu, they have a compacted team that neither change nor add another member. They are synchronized, and they know everyone like the back of their hands. So when Jiheon entered, being the youngest of them all, they knew she was the only one who wasn't there yet. They immediately turn their eyes to her. A few groans drowned the sound of sizzling and clacking of the dishes. 

"What?" Jiheon finally speaks, her eyebrows raised. Nagyung pushes herself from the sink walking towards the youngest to knock some senses into her. 

She flicks Jiheon's forehead, even though she knows that it's not appropriate considering the other girl's state. 

"Uh, _ow_?" Jiheon rolls her eyes, patting her forehead lightly. 

"You could've cleaned yourself before arriving here? What if somebody saw you?" Nagyung hissed; by now, everyone else has gone to do their respective jobs, like nothing happened. 

But then Chan, the manager, comes out of his office to greet Jiheon. It didn't go as planned. Just as he turned, the big smile on his face was replaced by a frown. He stares at the youngest who he considers as his own daughter, no matter how much they say that she's only a few years younger than him. "You can just say younger sister." Hyunjin stated once, but Chan reacted and said, "No, that's Jiwon." Besides, he's the manager, they have to agree with him. 

"Baek Jiheon." Chan palms his face exasperatedly, clipboard loosely held on his other hand. "Can you please clean that blood off your collar and _your face_." 

It's like no one appreciates her in this division, seriously. Without any more complaints, Jiheon grabs the nearest towel she spots— which is the one hanging on Minho's station— and rubs her face splattered with blood. She needs to change her clothes, at least, because Jiheon's wearing the purple shirt, an attire they're uniformed to wear during dire solo missions. 

"Well, if it makes you feel good I extracted the target." Jiheon mumbles once she's done cleaning her face with the cloth. 

"It does make me feel good, Jiheon. But what doesn't is me seeing you dirt with blood at work." Chan points a finger at her. "No, no don't tell me _it is work_. You know what I'm talking about."

Jiheon scoffs, about to head to the locker room to change. "Alright then, Bang Chan."

Felix drops a spoon, the utensil clacking disrupted the commotion from the other side of the room. Chan, on the other hand, let's his jaw drop from what the youngest referred to him as. 

"Oh, that's it young lady." Chan taps the pen on his clipboard, glaring the Jiheon. "You're manning the lab might there be a mission tonight." 

"But-"

"No. I don't wanna hear it." Chan raised his hands, turning around at the same time the kitchen doors opened. 

Seoyeon appears holding her notepad in front of her face without looking at the others, placing the circular stainless steel tray onto the counter. "One creamy shrimp pasta, one parmesan and garlic linguine for table 5," Seoyeon looks up from the order. She looks at Chan, then to the others. "with soda." 

"Are you sure?" Hyunjin mouths the question that's probably in everyone's mind. Seoyeon nods at him. 

"Hayoung told me the man looks familiar, but we never know." 

Chan nods, collecting himself to head to back inside his office. He stops, facing Jiheon again upon hearing her mumble that she has to change into her uniform. "No, you're not going out there with bruises on your face."

"What? Why?" 

"What would the customers think when you go out there with cuts on your face, huh? What would they say about this establishment?"

Crossing her arms like a spoiled teenager, Jiheon whispers to herself, "You're so dramatic." 

"Jeongin, let Jiheon clean the dishes. You go out there." He hears Jiheon let out a strangled noise just as Jeongin puts his fist up in victory. They're the two youngest, which makes them rivals in anything. Especially if one has a higher position in their division, but is quite reckless in case of missions. 

"Screw off, Jeongin." Jiheon scowls, pushing Jeongin away from the sink. 

"Oh!" Jeongin points at Jiheon much more enthusiastically than he usually does. "Chan hyung, she's cursing me!" But Chan ignored them for the sake of his sanity, entering the door of his office. Minho trails behind him. 

  
  


An hour later, Jisung and Seoyeon continue to take orders, as well as Jeongin and Jiwon. No one is suspicious except for Table 5 who's still currently eating and talking to the person sharing the table with them. Chan makes sure to check the crew from time to time. Right on time was he when Seoyeon enters again, frantically puts down the tray on the counter, eyes are wider than its usual. 

"Les amis, one alfredo pasta, one tiger shrimp pasta," Seoyeon huffs, "rainbow fish." 

Gyuri paused from cooking their signature fried rice to stare at Seoyeon. Hyunjin and Felix, as the cooks next to her, do the same. Everyone stops on their tracks for a moment when they hear the words come out of Seoyeon's mouth.

"Where?"

"Table 2,"

"Who?" 

"Jung Jaehyun." Seoyeon blankly stares at their manager to confirm if the name rings a bell. Chan nods, signalling the rest to go back to their jobs. 

"Two orders, does that mean he's with someone else."

"Yes, Hayoung says the other man's name is Kim Mingyu-"

"Kim...Mingyu?" 

At this point, Chan is just plain confused. Not only is a rainbow target inside the establishment, planning to eat dinner with a friend, in their resto. His friend might actually be another target, not dangerous, not quite. But a target, nonetheless. 

"Why? Do you know them?" Jiheon mumbles from the sink. 

Chan flaps his hands to the right, "Call Saerom." 

Jisung enters the scene, announcing table 8's orders, before asking Hyunjin what's going on. The cook tells him what happened, understanding why the kitchen suddenly feels stuffy and quiet. 

Saerom then emerges from her office, wondering the same thoughts as Jisung. 

"What's up?"

"Saerom," Chan starts, and quite frankly, he's amazed that he hasn't grown bald with the stress his work had given him. "care to tell me why your step-brother's friend is eating dinner with a notorious loan shark?" 

"What?" Saerom walks closer, blinking rapidly. "What are you talking about?"

"Kim Mingyu, isn't he the good friend your brother talks about?" 

  
  


In their line of work, trust is always the priority. Before they entered the company and put into divisions, they all did a background check. It determines whether an individual is worthy of trust and capable of being entrusted by classified information. In every division, there is a strategy that let's the team grow their trust within each other. It's been three years since the seventeen of them were put into this division. Not an ounce of distrust and dishonesty was found.

As mentioned, they know each other like the back of their hands. It didn't come easy, they had to strip off every secret, every family history, every past they had. So, it's not a surprise that Chan knows Saerom has a step-brother, and his step-brother's friend's name. Who is, well, apparently, sitting across a _rainbow fish_ at this very moment. 

"And...?"

"He's with Jung Jaehyun." Seoyeon interrupts the tense atmosphere, placing the plates sent by Felix on the tray. "We need to know what they're up to." 

"Okay," Saerom looks at Chan warily, "I'll go check in the lab." 

"Seungmin, tell Changbin and Chaeyoung to prepare." Chan averts his attention from Saerom to the wall clock on top of the kitchen doors. "We have two hours. Make sure everything is set. After that, follow Saerom to the lab."

Seungmin nods from his station, grabbing a towel from the side, exiting the kitchen. 

"I'll go call the boss. I'm counting on you." Chan assures Saerom, giving her a careful smile. They both know they're not hiding anything from each other, they just need to know what Saerom's step-brother knows of this mess. 

"Thank you." With that, Saerom walked down the hall, entered a door behind a shelf of cooking utensils. 

  
  
  
  
  


Seungmin walks out the kitchen doors with Chan's message to relay to the bartenders, Changbin and Chaeyoung. That should be the only thing he'll be doing before following Saerom to the lab. He's one of their most trusted lab techs, and he's keen on finding targets' profiles. He knows Jung is a big fish they need to catch. Without a doubt, they need to catch both of them. 

He stops on his track, spotting a few girls giggling and leaning too close on the edge of the counter. The man in question just smiles at them while making their drinks. Chaeyoung was busy cleaning the other half of the counter to notice. Seungmin stomps his feet loud enough to grab Changbin's attention. 

"Hey," Changbin smiles at him when Seungmin sits on the farthest stool from the other patrons. He ushers Changbin to come closer. "What's up?"

Changbin leans in when Seungmin lowers his voice. "Jung, table 2. Watch him, tell Chaeyoung we need you guys to move before closing. Don't worry, Jiheon and I will man the lab. Your earpiece is on, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," Seungmin whispers, scanning the giggly girls' faces as they wait for the bartender to go back to work on their drinks. "One more thing." Seungmin holds Changbin's face to keep him in place and plants a wet kiss on his lips. 

They hear a loud collective gasp from the side, and Seungmin knows it's those annoying patrons. Changbin leans back with a smug smile, but the other stands up to go back to the kitchen. 

"Sorry, he's unprofessional sometimes." Changbin grins at the girls, while they give him embarrassed smiles. He turns to Chaeyoung and whispers what Seungmin has told him. 

  
  
  
  


"Any news?" Chan asks when Seungmin and Saerom got back from the lab. There in Seungmin's hands are printed copies of what should be the two targets' profile. Everything they need to know, to be careful, to be meticulous of who they're about to catch. In this field, you don't just catch anyone suspicious. If you do, you and the whole organization will be in big, big trouble. 

Saerom sighs, combing her hair with her hand, "Well, it turns out, Joshua has no idea what I was saying. He said he just met Mingyu at a pottery class. Gosh, that man is into recreational activities lately. First, accessory making. Now, pottery?"

"Your brother likes accessory making?" Felix asks, facing away from the chicken he's about to drench with sweet and sour sauce.

"Not now, Felix." Chan waves him off with a click of a tongue. He looks back to the girl in front of him. "So, I guess it's safe to say that Kim Mingyu is living a secret life as a pottery student by day, huh."

"I guess so."

"Now, that that's out of the way, we can call the first division." Chan nods, pointing at one of his peers. "Jisun, change places with Hayoung, she needs to be in the lab." He looks up and checks the time again. 

"We'll be ready before nine thirty." 

  
  
  


Due to their bar and resto being popular as a nightly hangout by a lot of city people, it's always hard to do a mission where no one can suspect that the people who take their orders and cook their food are secretly trying to lock up someone from the crowd. They have been doing this for five years at most, the job— this secret job that requires them to hide classified information behind a shelf of cooking utensils and have a secret knocking pattern. They have been in the same division for three years at that. Even though it seems like it's been long, their occupation is still a lot to handle. 

Right now, as the number of patrons decrease from the tables, and the number of those who quickly reside at the bar's counter on the side increase, they know it's almost show time. A little bit more, maybe thirty minutes before the said time. 

Their earpieces are always on; the patrons consider it, if they care as much, as just like a little walkie talkie of the employees for _work stuff_. Which isn't wrong, except it's not work that would require someone to clean up table 6, but requires you to clean the blood off third street next to the parlour. 

  
  


"They're headed out." The rest hears Jiheon's static voice from the earpiece. She's perched up comfortable on one of the office chairs inside the lab. Seungmin's standing behind the chair, looking at the topmost monitors in front of them. 

"Where are their cars parked?" Chan asks, gears ready and about to leave from the back door. 

"Second floor." 

Chan stops, already outside the back alley, tying his shoes. "Huh, sneaky." He scoffs, knowing how hard it will be to catch a target from the second floor. Because the second floor parking lot has dark areas, in which the person can hide. It's secluded, and dangerous. If the broken fluorescent lights are anything to go by. 

  
  
  


After some more time, they decided to shoo the few drunk customers moping on their bar stools. Changbin and Chaeyoung are leading tonight's case; together with Seoyeon, they should be early to prepare. They saw Jung left with Kim almost ten minutes ago. Changbin couldn't stop tapping his foot the moment he saw the two men got up from their seats. Chaeyoung could feel his agitation from the other side of the bar. 

  
  
  


"Ready your positions." Jiheon says once again, testing the mic of her headphones as Seungmin positions himself next to her.

"You know, I never realized this." They hear Jisung's static voice wonder from their earpiece. "But the back alley is so stinky." 

Jiheon scrunches her nose upon remembering the stench of the place a few hours ago, but chooses not to comment. She's busy encoding on her monitor to entertain the other. 

Their positions go like this: Jisung and Jiwon will guard the back alley, while Hayoung and Felix stay inside the kitchen. Jisun and Jeongin will close the shop, and wait until everything is clear until they can come out. The others, Gyuri, Saerom and Minho are meeting with division one a few blocks away from the resto. The rest will be the ones in the parking lot, ready to catch Jung and Kim. 

Upon checking the positions, Jiheon noticed something, "Where is Nagyung unnie?"

Seungmin hums, eyes trained on the screen filing with codes and cctv footage, "Parking lot, with Chan hyung. Why?"

"She's out there?" Jiheon squeaks embarrassingly as she stares at her partner.

"Oh, boohoo, Heonie. My boyfriend is out there too but you don't see me whining." Seungmin didn't spare a glance at Jiheon, just rolling his eyes so the younger one would know how he feels.

"I'm not whining."

"Whatever you say, lovestruck puppy." It made Seungmin stifle a laugh, but failed miserably 

"Shut up, Seungmin."

Jiwon must've noticed the commotion from the other end. "What? What's going on?" She frantically asks. 

"Nothing." Jiheon waves her off. 

  
  
  


Seoyeon, Changbin, and Chaeyoung have always been the trio whenever they commence an operation like this. They have solo missions as well, except for Chaeyoung, but most of the time they are given team missions, and have unplanned ones like tonight. 

The tech duo told them that Jung had met with a client after exiting the resto, it was a few walks away from the place itself. Their cameras are attached in every corner that's near the resto, so they were able to catch it. It gave them more time to prepare, to follow the two.

"We're only tasked to catch them." Changbin mumbles, holding a baton on his right hand, eyes trained on Jung and Kim a few feet in front of them. 

"Yep." Seoyeon says, emphasizing with a nod. 

"That means no injuries."

"I get it "

"No blood. None of that." Changbin dotes, now looking idly at Seoyeon. 

"Yes, I know." The younger grunts, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Why are you looking at me like that?" 

Chaeyoung decides to slide into the conversation with a chuckle, "I think what oppa wants to say is don't do the same shit you did to Kang."

"I didn't kill her." Seoyeon tries to defend herself. But the two just scoff at her. 

"You cut her index finger, Seoyeon. The mission said catch, not extract." Changbin made sure to remind her what she did last time. And she should never forget about it, honestly. That might have been a bigger problem if the target took more injury than a loose index finger. 

"Well, I heard wrong."

  
  


"Hey, hey. Enough about Kang, she's peacefully locked up in her cell. Focus on the mission." Chan says through the earpiece, clearly bored from hearing the three bickers about past missions. 

  
  
  


The three walk out of their hiding spot when they see the two men entering the parking lot. Chaeyoung taps Changbin's arm lightly to grab his attention. "You guys go ahead, I'm gonna distract them."

Chaeyoung didn't wait for an answer before walking the opposite direction. She's good with those things, distraction, while the rest of the team sneakily find a way to cuff the targets. Sometimes it doesn't work though, but it still gives them time to prepare for attack. 

When Chaeyoung leaves, Changbin had the sudden urge to groan. He glares at the men a few feet in front, "Why do they have to be so goddamn tall." 

"Well, they won't see us because we're short." Seoyeon chuckles lowly, patting her partner's shoulder. 

"Uhuh, thanks for the kind word, partner."

"Don't mention it, partner." Seoyeon mumbles as they move along the other side when the men spots Chaeyoung sitting behind a black car. 

  
  
  


"Hey, pretty boys." Chaeyoung smiles innocently, fluttering her eyes slightly. The two stopped walking to face her. Jung smirks, hands on his pocket, standing leisurely, weight on his left foot.

"I'm pretty sure we're much, much older than you, young lady." Kim then says, but his smile contrasts the words he'd said. This is good, Jiheon thinks, watching the scene from her monitor. If they talk a bit more, they can know more about Jung and his illegal business. They already know it, but they need it to come right out of his mouth.

"Well I don't care about that, all I know is that you both have pretty faces. Pretty men, happy?" 

"What do you want?" Jung interrupts, arms now crossed on his chest. He's growing impatient, and the tech duo knows he still has a meeting with three gang leaders in forty minutes. 

"Money." Chaeyoung simply says. Looking straight into Jung's eyes.

"How much?"

"I don't know, how much can you offer to me?" 

They began talking about offers, everything between three million to fifty million won. It's such a big quantity for a small business enterprise owner. Considering that he lets people loan them, he can't be that rich. His enterprise had been established a year before their division was created. Frankly, his business isn't that successful. Unless, there's something more. A hidden business, something that isn't registered.

This is what he confessed to Chaeyoung a few exchanges later. When the girl asked how rich Mr. Jung is that he can lend a girl that much money in one go. He told Chaeyoung the illegal exports and imports of items, materials; like steel and copper, technology, and the likes. 

That's when Changbin and Seoyeon surged. Changbin hits Jung's back with a baton to grab his attention. Kicking the taller man in the stomach so he wouldn't be able to counter his attack. 

On his side, Seoyeon twists Kim's arms but the other tall man pushes Seoyeon aside, making his partner hit a pillar. He flinches, screaming at Chaeyoung to hold Jung in place. 

Changbin runs to Kim, hitting him with a baton again. It's a good distraction before he hits the target with his fist. But Kim was able to dodge the punch going through his face.

Kim surges and kicks Changbin's knee which makes the other wince in shock. His baton flew off far from the scene.

"Hyung, Kim knows jiu jitsu! You have to do more than trying to hit him with a baton." They hear Seungmin screech through the other line. 

"Why didn't you tell me that before I brought a baton." Changbin pants, standing up and gaining back his strength from the unexpected hit. 

"Sorry."

  
  


Now that Changbin figured out which technique to use to fight Kim, he ran towards the tall man, arms embracing his torso before pulling him down. Kim lets out a grunt, trying to kick at Changbin's thigh. He grabs the other's clothes to turn their position around, but Changbin has been trained to combat for a long time. His muscles know no strain. 

So, without much effort, he puts Kim into the same lying position just as Nagyung and Chan comes out of the shadow to cuff Jung who's wincing in pain because Chaeyoung kept twisting his arms from behind. 

Chan helps Seoyeon seconds later after cuffing a helpless Jung. She seems to be dizzy. The way Kim kicked her was not pretty to look at from any angle. 

After Nagyung has placed the cuff on Kim's hand with much struggle, they hear Jisung and Jiwon speak on the other line at the same time.

" _Argh_ , one at a time you two!" They hear Jisun's voice for the first time that day. And of course, it's so hush the two loud mouths. 

"Minho, Saerom, and Gyul are here!" Jisung yells. "Tell me your location, Chan hyung, division one is here with them!" 

The three had their earpieces turn off for secrecy purposes. Division one is the main division in which every division sends their concerns to. It's part of the contract that any meeting with them should not be recorded. In this case, every earpiece has a connected black box that might record their voices and what they have discussed. 

Division one runs across the street to the parking lot where Chan directed them. The others got themselves back inside the resto, locked the back door, waiting for the scene to conclude. 

Once the rest of them, those who aren't from the parking lot, gather in the middle of the resto, they open up about the suspicious patron on table five.

"Yeah, who's that?" Felix asks beside Jisun. They are currently standing in a circle. 

"Hayoung noona was given a list of suspects and targets." Seungmin starts. And it's the truth, Hayoung as well as Jisun, are part of the information section of their division. This is the reason why they were tasked to be the receptionists, because they know a face when they see one. They were trained to remember the looks of everyone they meet, even their movements aren't safe with them. "But as it turns out, the profiles aren't updated."

"What?" Hayoung questions, eyebrows pinched in the middle.

"The board hasn't given you the updated files for this month. The patron in table five had a past mortgage, but he'd already pay for it with hard earned money. He could be a yellow, but he's not a target." He looks at his peers' eyes, one by one. "Yet." 

  
  


Their discussion ended when the front door opened, revealing an exhausted bunch from the parking lot. They asked if division one settled the two already, Nagyung nodded in answer. Changbin and Chan help Seoyeon sit on one of the chairs before they settle themselves next to her. 

Saerom quickly goes to the back to get first aid, followed by Jeongin and Jiheon to get refreshment for the exhausted guys and gals. 

  
  
  
  
  


The next day, Changbin enters the back door with a knock that he's memorized for a long time. He's panting as he walks, eyes bloodshot and arms hanging tiredly on the side. Seungmin stood up from slouching in front of the oven, towards Changbin. 

"You came here with sweat and blood dripping off your face? What if someone saw you?" Seungmin complains, throwing his newly washed towel at his boyfriend. 

"Hey, at least no one saw me."

" _Ugh_ ," The younger leans back, giving Changbin a disgusted look. By now, anyone who has entered and will enter the back door with marks from a fight, cut from a knife, is considered a normal thing. "Go shower, please. You stink."

"Shower with me?" Changbin pouts, holding out his hands. But Seungmin was quick to walk away, grabbing a tray and opening the kitchen doors, enough to squeeze himself but not quite for the customers to see what's happening inside. 

"No." He says before leaving the kitchen completely 

Chan exits his office as he usually would when he hears the back door opening. His feel good dancing was replaced by a frown when he sees Changbin holding out a towel with blood stains, and also his face, neck, and arms filled with cuts. 

Yeah, just another normal day. 

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are highly appreciated ♡


End file.
